Anas Aremeyaw Anas, undoubtedly Ghana’s finest and most sought after investigative journalist, Monday night granted Nii Arday Clegg, host of Multi TV’s news and current affairs show PM Express, an exclusive no-holds-barred interview. This special edition of the PM Express which lasted over an hour and half was occasioned by the imminent release of Anas’ latest investigative piece titled, “Enemies Of The Nation”, a story about the endemic corruption that goes on daily at the Tema Port. “Enemies Of The Nation is a story that I find very close to my heart too. My basic ideal in this particular work was to find out where the revenue leakage of this country was. The basic question to ask is why is it that people are becoming poorer and others are becoming richer in our society?” With this objective in mind, Anas and his ‘strong team” went undercover and managed to unearth the rot and damning evidence of corrupt officials at the Tema port and their colluders and how this negatively affects the fortunes of our nation. The resultant documentary is a “power packed one and a half hour piece where we will see men in uniform taking bribes… and other men whose acts lead to loss of revenue in this country.” “As far as I know ,my checking of the electronic system showed a whopping sum of two hundred million dollars all lost over the years through such dubious businessmen and business practices that happen within the port and the greatest thing I love about this investigation is that we have the hardcore evidence to prove that these companies owe the state and we are going after them to bring the money back because what it means is that they stole from us.” To Nii Arday’s question as to whether Anas found the results of this particular investigation satisfying, he replied thus; “incredible, it will be beautiful and I know that from Wednesday all Ghanaians will get the opportunity to see what I am talking about. The results were satisfying. I think there is more to be done we need to investigate on the electronic system further and I’m sure a lot of money will come back to the state.” Nii Arday then posed the questions, “who is Anas, what is his motivation, how did it start, where did he train, what did he study, who told him that he should do this when he could have been doing something else and enjoying his life, why this brand of journalism?” To this Anas answered, “you see, I am a product of my society, I live here in Ghana and it is our society that gave birth to me. In simple terms my kind of journalism is a reaction from the problems of society… The key issue or the key point why I do what I do is because I want my journalism to affect every single individual no matter your class. It should be a journalism that directly speaks to activities in your life, that affects people… it’s development oriented, it’s human rights oriented,” he said adding when he set out to “investigate any story there are three key components he looks out for; [to] name, shame and jail and this is what makes him different from other journalists. Anas paid glowing tribute to Kweku Baako Junior, editor of the New Crusading Guide, saying “I learnt my journalism under the feet of Kweku Baako Junior, he is my editor-in-chief and forever my mentor because of his principles." The interview also profiled the earlier works of Anas which included the following: • Imam school of shock • Eurofood scandal • Soldier bar • The Chinese sex scandal • Mad house • The Osu Children’s Home • In The Interest of the State among others A special reference was made about the numerous international and local awards that Anas’ works has won as well as special mentions from prominent personalities in society. Key among these was the speech by President Obama when he visited Ghana. In that speech he singled out Anas as a shining example of what a journalist should be and how he risks his life to unearth corruption in our society. Anas is currently collaborating with Al Jazeera on a project that would see him working on about eight stories for the channel. His latest work, “Enemies Of The Nation” will first break in full in Wednesday’s edition of the New Crusading Guide and on Multi TV’s Joy News and Cine Afrik channels. The PM Express is telecast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9pm only on the Joy News Channel. Source: Multi TV